Sony, DRM, and rootkits

[jrtom]

For those of you that haven't been following this story, BoingBoing has been posting a series of stories on Sony's recent malfeasance, which basically involved installing security-compromising concealed spyware (two varieties) on your computer when you used it to play one of about 20 CDs that they've recently released, lying about having done so, distributing a "fix" that wasn't, distributing the CD under a completely ridiculous EULA--and failing to apologize even after having been caught repeatedly.

This is, of course, over and above selling a crippled CD in the first place that would only let you play or copy it (a limited number of times) using software found on the disc. (What happens if your backups go south? SOL, it seems.)

The only redeeming part of this story is that someone discovered that apparently Sony's spyware-concealing software can be used to defeat the recently-unearthed World of Warcraft spyware. Oh, the irony...

Anyway, BoingBoing has now posted a summary article (with links to the previous articles) so that you can catch up.

I'm now debating whether I want to go to the trouble of tracking down contact information for Sony so that I can tell them that I'm (this close to) boycotting their products of any sort (including their digital cameras, which I have been seriously considering purchasing). If I do, I'll update this post with a copy of the letter.

Comments

[lightning-rose.livejournal.com]

The irony of Sonys malfeasance is that it appears it was more about trying to get consumers to pressure Apple to support Sonys digital format than it was about protecting their ip. And to make it doubly ironic, Apple computers can read the Sony CD's with no interference.

I, for one, have been boycotting all of Sonys products since they announced several years ago that they will not support the MP3 format. Fortunately, they make it easy to do this by producing overpriced products that are less than state of the art.

For cameras, check out Nikon. Their point & shoot digitals are some of the nicest. All the photos on my website were taken with a Nikon 995, and they're all at lower resolution than the original images.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

There's no shortage of irony in this situation, certainly.

Apples: one of the articles I referenced indirectly indicates that there is actually Apple-specific Bad Stuff on these discs, but it appears that you may have to choose to run the software. (Whose brilliant idea was the autorun on Windows, anyway? Sounds like a security problem waiting to happen...)

Sony actually does make pretty decent camera/video equipment, IMO; my dad (an experienced amateur photographer) recommended them, and Megan and I spent a lot of time obsessively looking over specs and sample images and such. (The user interfaces on their cameras suck, I'll admit.) I'll bear in mind your recommendation for Nikon; thanks.